It doesn’t sound as if Howe is the type of guy that will inspire magic from the overpaid, under-producing Mets.

Chavez said this year’s A’s hustle more under new manager Ken Macha than they did for Howe. With a “bit more kick-back” atmosphere last season, players would try to get away with more under Howe than they do with Macha, who was interviewed for the Mets’ job.

Basically, this year’s A’s are more – to use Fred Wilpon’s favorite word – accountable under Macha than they were with Howe.

“He was real quiet,” Chavez said of Howe. “With [Macha], I don’t want to say people are walking on their tippy-toes, but they are aware that Kenny is not going to let things slide by.

“Before, guys thought they could get away with it, kind of push that limit.”

An example?

“Not running out to first,” Chavez said. “That is the big thing this year. This team has hustled more, taken more bases.”

As the Mets’ struggle, Chavez doesn’t see Howe doing a Lou Piniella and flipping the buffet anytime soon.

Chavez said Howe favored one-on-one meetings compared to team get-togethers. In those meetings, Howe stressed effort and leadership. Even the famous A’s team meeting that Howe had last season – which helped turn a 19-23 team into 103 game-winners – didn’t move Chavez.

“To tell you the truth, I think with the players that we have here we would’ve done the same thing,” Chavez said.

“This game is all about pitching. When the pitching staff turned it on, that’s when we started winning.”